What Makeup A Beauty Editor Really Uses

With piles of primer and mounds of mascara on my desk, I often gravitate to a select few products that I use on high rotation. Some old, some new, some borrowed, but none blue – here are the makeup must-haves I actually have in my handbag at the moment.

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk

Kylie Jenner eat your little heart out. This is the lip liner to conquer all lip liners. I’m only a recent convert to a lined lip, so natural is key for me, and this colour is nude but not where-are-my-lips nude. This wondrous little stick is my secret weapon to a fuller lip, with Charlotte herself designing the pencil to re-shape, re-size and balance your lips (without looking like a clown). Charlotte suggests drawing over the outer edge of your natural lip line to cheat that puffed-up pout, and I most definitely listened. Lately, I’ve been wearing it without any lipstick at all, just a wholly filled-in lip which, as its namesake suggests, gives you a sexy matte pout, for ultimate va-va-voom vibes.

MAC Studio Waterweight Foundation in C5

Quite the creature of habit when it comes to makeup, I have been using a lot of the same makeup since I was in my teens. There are a few cult staples, which, as trends come and go, remain holed up in my beauty bag for the long-haul. One, is MAC Face and Body Foundation, which I have been slathering on for ten plus years. But MAC’s latest offering, Studio Waterweight SPF 30+ Foundation, has won over my complexion heart. Buttery soft on skin, it feels like velvet with each application of the gel-serum formula. The coverage is beautifully sheer but enough to cover spots and specks, giving you a photoshop finish (sans the Facetune).

ModelCo Double Ended Fibre Lash

Ask anyone that knows me, and they will tell you I am OCD about my lashes. Long, separated and spidery; they are my beauty ‘thing’, and I have been a slave to Diorshow since I was about 15. To be frank, when I receive new mascaras in the mail (tough gig, I know) they have a lot to live up to such is my deep my love for Dior’s magic wand. But because I love ModelCo as a brand, I recently tried the Fibre Lash and Lash Line and all I can say is – Oh. My. God. The Lash Line was pretty amazing, but the Fibre Lash is next level long lashes. I never wear fake lashes, and will never need to, with this saucy little wand in my hand.

Laura Mercier Candleglow Luminizing Palette

Good highlight can change your face – even if you don’t have the time to do a full contour (seriously, who has the time?). Just a dusting at the tip of your nose, across cheekbones, under your brow bone and across your cupid’s bow gives you that glow only seen in the glossy’s. Laura Mercier’s highlight hero, Ania Milczarczyk, once told me that you have to colour match your highlighter just as you would foundation, and too dark or too light is a thing. Being olive-skinned (and with a slight case of Tanorexia) I soon discovered my weapon of choice was far too light, and when I discovered the Laura Mercier Candleglow Luminizing Palette, I was in highlight heaven. ‘Glimmer’ is the perfect shade for the darker darlings, and even after a drop-shatter episode, I still cling to the little broken cubes for my daily radiance. A shade to match all my glow demands, plus the cutest palette to house it in.

MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork

When MAC makeup maven Nicole ‘Pinkee’ Thompson tells you to use something – you use it. This Groundwork Paint Pot is a MAC artist staple, and used at almost every backstage and editorial. It’s also my latest obsession, and whenever I sweep it across my socket, the compliments flow freely (yippee). I’m not sure exactly what it does, but that magical little pot makes my eyes pop, even when just used on its own (sometimes almost better when it rides solo!). The easiest way to achieve definition to your eyes, ever.

L’oreal Colour Riche Matte Lipstick in Orange Power

Everyone swears by a classic red lip, but for me, nothing beats a sexy swipe of orange, which is my go-to for a pop pout. Nothing says balmy nights like a bronzed complexion, giraffe-esque lashes and a slick of bright orange. This L’Oreal Orange Power is my latest lippie love. It’s matte, which offsets the loudness when opting for such a pow-wow colour, and almost mimics tangerine neoprene – without that garish neon pigment.

Feature image by Sonny Vandevelde, via Flaunter.